Fr. Jose bgins his ministry in the diocese of Hong Kong

After a couple years of Chinese language - Cantonese - studies, our colleague Fr. José Cherukara has begun his new ministry on November 1 in the parish of St. Benedict. He himself writes:

The Parish

It's a new parish, with a history of 25 years. Parish has a multiple use building with 5 floors. Out of 300 Catholics in 1987 the number has increased to 3000 today.
We are 4 priests in the parish, one of whom is now retired. We have six Masses on Sunday, including one on Saturday evening.

My new ministry:

Only a month ago I'm in this parish. This is a very active parish and offers great opportunities for a new priest like me. As I begin the ministry in the Parish, I am given the responsibility for the care of the English Speaking community of the Parish.

Altar Servers' Gathering

Within the parish territory, there are four major hospitals and we take care of the pastoral needs of the patients by regular visits to these hospitals.

Besides working in the parish, I have also a couple of responsibilities in the Diocesan Commission for Youth and in the Commission for the Catholic Communication.

My hopes and challenges:

The parish provides a an extensive scope for the ministry, and I'm glad to be pretty busy at the service of the Church. This is my belief: If the Lord has brought me to this ministry, He will give me the strength to carry it out. Hence, no fears!

The main hurdle is language. After two years of intensive study, I realize I do not know to speak the language!! .... But I must say that the parishioners are so helpful and understanding. Two of them help me three days a week with the intonations, Character reading, preparation of the homily, and so on.

During the welcome party I had to talk about what were my expectations and hopes for this parish. This is my wish: May God's grace be there to respond to the expectations of those who assigned me to this ministry.